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While completing her master’s degree, IWF PhD candidate Caroline Rosello developed an economic model to inform policy decisions around the energy, water and food nexus. Recognising the model’s limitations in accounting for people and the environment, she was inspired to shift her focus to improving decision-making processes.

Guided by her supervisors Dr Joseph Guillaume, Dr Carmel Pollino and Professor Tony Jakeman, Caroline embarked on a PhD focused on building decision makers capabilities for robust and adaptive water planning. This topic was not without its own challenges and was outside her comfort zone, as she came from an environmental sciences background, with only introductory knowledge in integrated water management.

She recalled struggling to organise her ideas, but with the support of her family and supervisors, she progressively overcame various learning challenges and managed the highs and lows of her PhD journey.

“After an initial [moment of] panic, I developed my own strategy [and], with the support of family and my supervisors, slowly found a way to deal with different aspects that I found challenging, as I was facing my own lack of knowledge at that time.”

Engaging in activities outside her PhD, especially team projects, also contributed to her personal and professional growth.

“I got involved in different group and team activities. My aim was to learn from others and build my confidence progressively.”

Developing relationships with peers and project team members helped her realise that she wasn’t expected to master everything and that she could rely on others to navigate her Ph.D. journey.

“Part of my journey was also accepting that it isn’t a big problem not to know everything; there are other people around who can help.”

When reflecting on a key takeaway from her research, Caroline emphasised the importance of including people and their experiences in decision-making processes to manage deep uncertainty. This goes beyond quantitative models to consider hybrid quantitative and qualitative approaches to better understand systems and inform planning and management decisions.

“There isn’t one single solution. It’s not only models or quantitate tools, we also need methods and processes that are inclusive of people and experience in order to work together to better understand different systems.”

Among the highlights of her journey was receiving a Commendation for Student Oral Presentation at the 25th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM) in Darwin in 2023, for the conference paper co-authored with her supervisors: “Identifying factors influencing water planning: Benefits of a capability approach?”. This award recognised her efforts to improve her communication skills.

A key factor in her presentation’s success was a shift in perspective from worrying about how others perceived her research to sharing her work with friends. This mindset change was influenced by relationships made during MODSIM2021’s ceremony dinner, where she discovered a more human side of people, far from the seriousness of research, and found it enjoyable and refreshing.

“Back in 2021 I attended a party at MODSIM and met and networked with many different people. When I went back to MODSIM in 2023, it was a totally different way of thinking. I was happy to share my research.”

“I wasn’t stressed of what people would think of me, instead it was as if I was speaking to my friends and sharing what I’m doing with them. It was a gamechanger.”

For Caroline, building and nurturing her support base made all the difference, and she encourages any PhD candidate to do the same.

“You need a support network. Build your support base and don’t be afraid to talk to others.”

Caroline finished her thesis in 2023, with her final submission in early 2024. She is now working on building her practical skills within the IWF research team.